Become a Member: Get Ad-Free Access to 3,000+ Reviews, Guides, & More

Erik Buell and Monday Motorbikes accelerating electric bikes

Erik Buell VanguardSpark Commuter accelerating ebr
Erik Buell VanguardSpark Commuter

Electric motorcycles are accelerating into our future with innovative motorcycle designer Erik Buell joining a new electric motorcycle company and Monday Motorbikes increasing production in a new partnership.

Erik last year finally sold off all EBR assets last year, but the innovative former Harley-Davidson engineer has now joined forces with F-X Terny of Vanguard Motorcycles and Frédéric Vasseur, founder of electric Formula E race car company Spark Racing Technology.

Erik Buell EBR - sad end accelerating
Erik Buell

Together they have formed VanguardSpark to initially make two electric motorcycle models with four patents pending.

While we could have expected them to make a race bike, they have opted for a pedal-assisted e-bike called SpeedBike and another called Commuter (photo at the top of this page) with more than 150km of range.

No other information is available.

However, their officially released drawing shows a carbon-fibre monocoque shell with batteries inside and a hub-mounted electric motor on the rear wheel.

Monday Motorbikes acceleratingMonday Motorbikes accelerating

Meanwhile, urban electric motorcycle company Monday Motorbikes is accelerating its production after being acquired by Texas-based Sustainability Initiatives. 

Co-Founder and CEO Josh Rasmussen says the acquisition is “exciting as it sets us up to begin producing millions of dollars of product every month”.

“This partnership allows us to increase manufacturing output and fulfil our growing sales around the United States and abroad,” he says.

“With Harley Davidson investing $25M in Alta Motors a few weeks ago, we are beginning to see a focus on electric motorbikes by some of the largest players in the motorcycle space.”

More than urban bikes

Monday Motorbikes accelerating

Monday Motorbikes are also expected to move beyond just urban motorcycles when they reveal their next generation motorbike to the public in May along with announcements of new technology and embedded systems. 

“The technology we are developing extends well beyond urban motorbikes,” says Monday Motorbikes Founder, Dr. Nathan Jauvtis. 

Renewable technology company Sustainability Initiatives will assist in the production, distribution and supply chain management of Monday Motorbikes. 

Sustainability Initiatives co-founder Mark Adams points out that while fewer millennials are obtaining driver’s licenses, the number of electric bikes is anticipated to rise by 200% over the next seven years. 

“As younger generations search for lower cost, lightweight electric mobility, Monday Motorbikes plans to be at the forefront of innovative technology for urban transportation,” he says.

  1. Electric bikes are destined to be very heavy by nature of the energy storage li-ion is it or so Elon has bet his future on building Gigafactory 1. Elon has semi abandoned his plan to go towards mass availability and instead head into heavy vehicles where battery mass is less of an issue. Adding additional KG’s to a powered two wheeler kills it’s handling, a lightly loaded tyre performs better and the lighter the tyre and suspension the lower the unsprung mass. Batteries are exothermic once the electrolyte gets above a temperature it’s likely to explode, that temperature is low, the never above temperature on discharge is typically 70 celsius and why Elon has huge arrarys of them to spread the load, reducing the thermal losses/heat generation and cooling parasitic losses, you can’t run a Li-Ion cell at anywhere near 100% duty cycle, fact… You have to reduce current in many situations, when the SOC state of charge is below 30% voltage drops off rapidly, charging above 80% is not rapid, so you really only have 50% of the already only 1% of the energy density of Hydro-Carbon fuels. With Formula 1 engines now above 50% thermal efficiency hobbled by the F1 regulations, small cylinders with high surface/volume ratio’s higher efficiency is easily obtained with simulation optimised designs just don’t expect any motocycle manufacturer to make one anyday soon.

  2. I am a little concerned about Harley-Davidson’s involvement in the development of the electric bike. They have a reputation (and deservedly so) of acquiring companies (like Buell for example) and driving them into the ground. With Harley “investing” 25M in Alta Motors, I can only warn Alta Motors to beware of what deals they make with Harley. This “investment” comes with strings or should I say ropes and I hope Alta Motors has a very sharp knife to cut them loose should Harley once again attempt to destroy something good.

Comments are closed.